The Unexpected

I unexpectedly got the weekend off, and I didn’t know quite what to do with myself. What is this thing they call “free time”, and what do I do with it?

(I decided to finish prepping a long-delayed appliqué quilt project – something to keep me busy during jury duty this week!)

And since I have a few free moments here, I’ll randomly open one of the “Breyer Breeds” models that I purchase a few weeks back and never had the chance to unpack, because such is my life right now. And the winner is…

There he is, my beautiful boy! (I know the likelihood of you believing this was something randomly pulled from my stack of boxes is slim, but I’m sticking to my story.)

They did a wonderful job with his facial details, perhaps to make up for the fact that he is a solid, unshaded black:

He reminds me a great deal of the Classic Best in Show Thoroughbred release in Solid Black, the popular #935 release that ran from 2011 through 2018, and was even briefly released as a “Special Run” for Pottery Barn Kids in 2012. (As far as I know, the Pottery Barn release is identical to the Regular Run, but I haven’t gotten around to owning or inspecting one in person yet.)

So does that make this Man o’ War a “Maxi Me” of the Classic Thoroughbred, or is the Classic a “Middle Me” of the Man o’ War? Details, details…

I still want a vintage Black Man o’ War (I know, still dreaming) and I am kind of hoping that these releases – except for the Quarter Horse Gelding, naturally – get included in the Collector’s Club Appreciation Event this year. They would all look amazing in Gloss, but a Gloss Black Traditional Man o’ War would be delightful. 

And since we’re talking about Thoroughbreds, am I the only one who wants the current Test Color offering? I have two Sample Cigars – Nosferatu and Aintree, both lucky NPOD purchases – and a true Test Color would make it a nice trio. Plus I love the “Gold Chestnut” variation of Golden Charm in general, and wish this Gold Medalist series had taken off. 

I do remember that nonhobbyist fans of Valegro were both baffled and put off by this Gold Medal release, and the whole concept of Decorator colors in general, which was possibly part of the reason why the series never came to be. 

Gold Valegro and Gold Chestnut

So in honor of his Gold Medal performance in Rio this year, there’s a 3000-piece Special Run Gold Valegro coming our way in December:

I was expecting Reeves to do something, but I thought it’d be something a little more conventional – either issuing him in Gloss, or giving him some fun accessories, like a ribbon, medal and/or a gold painted base. But this is perfectly acceptable, too!

Although some may or will refer to his color as Gold Charm, technically it isn’t: a true Gold Charm paint job will have white points, a bald face, and four stockings. This Valegro does not.

Breyer’s first two attempts at recreating the Gold Charm paint job – the BreyerFest 1991 Raffle Model Man o’ War, and the 1992 Signing Party Secretariat – also did not come with white points and requisite markings.

They both came with the markings and other details of their original respective Chestnut releases. In fact, they looked like Chestnuts where the Chestnut paint was simply swapped out with Metallic Gold.

They were both labeled as Gold Charms, though, and most hobbyists accepted that terminology. The deviation from the standard paint job was written off as either specific to those releases (they were basically designed as commemorative portraits) or coming from a lack of knowledge/experience. The other three Raffle Decorators that year – Wedgewood Blue Sham, Florentine Legionario, Copenhagen San Domingo – were also not terribly faithful reproductions.

Then in 2013 Reeves put some Gold Foals in some of their Stablemates Treasure Hunt Mystery Foal sets:

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/5881.jpg

These, too, looked like Gold-swapped Chestnuts. That I found… interesting. Especially since they masked the stockings, but not the mane and tail: making it look like a “Gold Chestnut” was a conscious choice, not an error.

Now we have this Valegro. He doesn’t have any markings – either Valegro’s original ones, or ones uniquely to this release. Otherwise he does have all the hallmarks of being a “Gold Chestnut” like the three releases mentioned above.

So that’s what I am going to refer to him as (and any future releases using this particular color scheme) until/unless Reeves finds a more formal term for it. (The sales flier refers to this Valegro only as “gold”.)

Another good rationale for creating a distinct term for it is that it will also help distinguish it from Breyer releases that have been painted or plated solid Gold without any other distinguishing features, like the early Costume Contest prize Gold Western Horses, and some Stablemates.

Silver and Gold

I’ve been occupying most of my spare time over the past three days to spring cleaning, primarily of the outdoor gardening kind. It was messier than I imagined, but isn’t that how most cleaning projects are? Another day or two and I should be ready to start planting and rearranging things.

In the process of raking, weeding and pruning, I completely forgot that the Equine Affaire was this weekend. Not completely completely, I guess - it just got pushed down the list of things I needed to worry about. (Today’s list: "What inedible thing did the dog eat today?" "How much did I lose by on today’s eBay auctions?" and "Where on Earth did my brother hide the chicken taquitos?")

I hate feeling so apathetic about Steppin’ Out; I’m more than willing to be a fool for love over many things, but the Esprit mold is not going to be one of them.

The BreyerFest-related news coming out of the Equine Affaire was pretty exciting: two more Special Runs were announced! A Decorator Bluegrass Bandit "Under the Sea," and another Gambler’s Choice piece called "Spun Gold," on a mold-to-be-named-later.

The Bluegrass Bandit is a blue translucent piece done in what appears to be the same style/technique as the Pink Ribbon Andalusian, except with ocean/mermaid motifs, I presume. (The one available picture is a tad unclear.) I can’t imagine her not being popular, considering how well received Translucents like Gala, Carnivale, and Tortuga were. (Reeves has decided to call them "Clearware," but I’m going by my preferred term, for now.)

The "Spun Gold" SR is a bit more of mystery: we don’t know the mold, and we’re not sure of the color, either. The copy on the signage says "One mold has been transformed into three different strands of gold!" so the popular line of thinking is that they’ll be three different shades of gold - white, yellow and rose - in either Golden Charm, Florentine, or some combination thereof.

I think it’s just as, if not more likely, to be an iteration of what we had with the previous Gambler’s Choice, but all in Golden Charm: solid, pinto, and appaloosa. If there are going to be surprises within the surprises - as there were with the Quarter Horse Gelding, before - I think they might go with either Florentines (to keep with the theme) or Silver Charms/Filigrees (to keep with the history.)

I also think it would be darn funny if they went with the Silvers, because for the first time in the history of ever, Silver would be worth more than Gold.

I have no idea on the mold they’ll be using for it. The first two thoughts that come to mind are "vintage" (that’s what they went with before) and "pony" (because Rumplestiltskin was an evil little gnome.)

Heck, maybe they might go with one of the molds celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, as I mentioned in a not-too-previous post? All three of those horse molds - the Fighting Stallion, Mustang or Five-Gaiter - have already come in Golden Charm, and the Fighter has come in a couple versions of Golden Charm Pinto, so I don’t think it’s very likely.

So here’s the tally so far, on Line Specials:

711127 Aurora (Porcelain Unicorn)
711128 Gruff (Mountain Goat)
711129 Under the Sea (Bluegrass Bandit)
711130 Once Upon a Time (Show Jumping Warmblood)
711131 Wish on a Star (Big Ben)
711132 Jasmine (Weather Girl)
711133 Hansel & Gretel (Black Forest Ponies)
711134 Spun Gold (Gambler’s Choice)

The grumps among us will say otherwise (because they always do!) but this is a darn nice lineup. Except for the Unicorn (duh, breakable!) I would not be unhappy with any of them. I am so not unhappy with them, in fact, that I’m actually thinking about buying another ticket. At full price.